Another day, another delicious breakfast. Now that we were at a hotel, it was a pretty fantastic spread. Unfortunately, my travel partner was starting to look worse for wear. Although we had the same lunch the day before, SMS had been very Piggly-Wiggly with the raw cheese we ordered and he felt sick. This got worse as the day went on although he tried to be a trooper until I almost killed him with a bus misadventure.
BUT! Let me not jump too far ahead! After breakfast, SMS went back to bed (I should have realized this was a very bad sign) while I explored the downtown. I walked along the lake and it was very beautiful. A Busker’s Fair was going on and there were lots of street performers and art displays being set up. I went back to the hotel and wanted to go on my own Grotto adventure. There had been excellent write-ups for a Grotto in the hills above Lugano and their fantastic polenta. So, SMS rallied and we hopped on the #8 bus.
Unfortunately, the bus route was very confusing with a sort of 3-leaf clover-shaped route over several miles. We got on and headed in the wrong direction. When I decided we should get off, the bus driver looked at us questioningly but away we went. We crossed the street to wait for the bus in the other direction. While waiting, SMS laid down because he was feeling unwell, which resulted in the cops driving by 5 minutes later checking us out. It was fairly clear someone had called us in since really, we were in the middle of nowhere and SMS was lying in the street. Fortunately, the bus came back at that moment so the cops figured out what was going on without needing to talk to us. Embarrassingly, it was the same driver who, this time, just asked us where we wanted to go. We pointed at the map and he had us sit down and he would tell us where to get off. We passed our initial boarding stop and then went up the hill to be deposited at the bus stop directly across the street from the restaurant, which had just closed. Boo hoo!
Internally, I think SMS was having serious doubts about his (and my) decision-making ability, but he said he was feeling ok (this was later admitted to be a lie) so we walked to Osteria Pazzallo, which was an amazing find! There was delicious bread, the best salad and tasty limone and parmesan spaghetti. The waitress was very concerned as to why SMS was not eating but I mimicked that he was hungover, which made her very relieved and we laughed about how SMS was “stanco.” Then he died.
Ok, not really, but I was starting to realize that in an effort to be a good sport, he was really wearing himself out and he was pretty sick. So, we took the bus back to the hotel where he slept for the rest of the afternoon.
I went to the pool, which was delightful. I read, wrote and drank an Aperol Spritz! I checked on SMS who was still out for the count, so I walked into Lugano and watched some of the Busker shows. One acrobat troupe in particular was amazing!
I went back to the hotel again and then went out for dinner, solo. I was sad that SMS was so sick and definitely missed him!
I took the 431 bus up the hill to the now-open Grotto Morchino! As a solo diner, there was space outside at a picnic table although it looks like a place where reservations are recommended. I had the polenta y ossobucco, which was excellent. The house merlot paired perfectly and I was pretty happy that my grotto sagashimasu had worked out.
One thought on “Switzerland, Day 13: Lugano”